What are Geoglyphs?

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About Geoglyphs:

A geoglyph refers to a design that is drawn on the earth.
Geoglyphs are typically formed of durable elements of the landscape, such as stones, gravel, or earth.
A geoglyph is usually longer than four metres.
Geoglyphs are difficult tosee or even identify on the ground but are easily appreciated when seen from the sky.
There are two types of geoglyphs, namely a positive and negative geoglyph.
- A positive geoglyph is formed by the arrangement and alignment of materials on the ground in a manner akin to petroforms (which are simply outlines created using boulders).
- A negative geoglyph is formed by removing part of the natural ground surface to create differently coloured or textured ground in a manner akin to petroglyphs.
There is another variation of a geoglyph that involves seeding plants in a special design.
- The design usually takes years to see since it depends on the plants growing. This type of geoglyph is called an arborglyph.
Another type of geoglyph often referred to as ‘chalk giants’ are those carved intohillsides,exposing the bedrock beneath.
Examples: The most famous geoglyphs are the Nasca lines in Peru and the horse and human figures cut into hillsides in southern England (e.g., the Uffington White Horse and the Cerne Giant).

Q1: What are petroglyphs?

Petroglyphs are rock carvings (rock paintings are called pictographs) made by pecking directly on the rock surface using a stone chisel and a hammerstone.

Source: Maharashtra’s geoglyphs discovery is citizen archaeology at its best. It put India on the map